Ready for my Christmas vacation

It is just after lunch time here in Germany when I write this. It is cold here in Germany. Well, not cold when you compare it to Alaska, but below freezing anyhow. All the trees and fields are covered with frost and a little bit of snow here and there. My car is covered with ice every morning. I enjoy it. This is how the Christmas time is supposed to be.
Today is my last day at the office for this year. I almost finished all remaining tasks and we will have our company Christmas party this evening. And from tomorrow on I am on leave until January 2nd. I am so much looking forward to it. I feel ready for some days off.
Dave and I spend last weekend in Germany. It was very nice and we did a lot. On Saturday we decided to go our for breakfast. That is the easiest thing to do if you want to get a parking spot in downtown Essen during the Christmas shopping Saturdays. We had breakfast before the stores opened and as soon as they did we started some Christmas shopping. First of all we wanted to order the wedding rings. And we did! They will be ready in January and I can't wait to see them.
We also bought some presents for friends and walked along all the German Christmas Market booths. We had some Gluehwein (hot, spicy wine) before we went home.
On Saturday night we drove to a little town next to Cologne and went to a birthday party there. It was fun, but very late (or early in the morning, depending on the perspective).
Sunday was a beautiful and sunny winter day. Dave and I decided that after baking and eating cookies yesterday (yes, we did this after shopping and before the birthday party) we really needed some workout. So we drove to the Lower Rhine area and did some Rollerblading.
It was a fantastic day. The area is a winter site for geese from Siberia. So in addition to the workout we were watching geese and other fowl.

I also got almost all Christmas presents and most of them are already wrapped. No idea how to get Dave's to England. Some stuff is just to big for my small suitcase and the bigger suitcase is in England. Bummer.

We finally got some more information and a reservation form for the Motherlode Lodge in Palmer. This is where on March 15 the wedding will take place. Please, be patient with invitations. Hopefully I have cards for that ready by end of the year, but I can't promise that. I have no idea where to get nice cards in England. Anyhow, everybody should be aware now of the date and can reserve this special day in their calenders. Can't wait to see you all again.

You see, I am ready for Christmas and the new year. And I hope you enjoy this time as much as I do.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

Deck the Halls....

Isn't it surprising that it is already Christmas time? Why does it always come so unexpected?
During the last weeks we:

1. Had turkey (for Thanksgiving)
2. Had turkey (for the day after Thanksgiving)
3. Had turkey (for Saturday after Thanksgiving)
4. Decided to never eat anything again
5. Skipped this decision on Sunday morning (after Thanksgiving)
6. Picked wedding rings, but didn't order them now
7. Scheduled the wedding in Alaska to be the March 15!!!!!!
8. Ordered wedding invitation cards
9. Visited a lot of Christmas fairs (I love them)
10. Bought a large Christmas tree
11. Tried to get the tree to our house in England with a Mustang
12. ....... (why can't we have a more practical car)......
13. Needed to cut the top of the tree to make it fit into the living room
14. Wrote Christmas cards.
15. Sent Christmas boxes to Dave's family.

Seems with this short list you got a good overview about what we did the last weekends. The main time we spent discussing about wedding plans and Christmas plans. Al and Jane in Anchorage "booked" their minister for our wedding for March 15. All we need is a place now. We want it to take place at the Motherlode Lodge at Hatcher Pass (just a little bit outside of Palmer), but is seems to be difficult to organize it from England without being able to go there and having a face to face discussion. Hopefully it will work out.
For the church wedding in June we talked to my pastor here in Germany. So this seems to be booked now. I also asked my 7 years old niece to be one of the flower girls, but she answered "No, that is too silly". Well, maybe she will change her mind. If not this reminds me too much of myself, it is almost scary ;o)

Christmas was another thing we talked about a lot. My godson's birthday is on December 23rd and usually we combine the family Christmas with celebrating Nico's birthday on Christmas Day at Silke's (my sister-in-law) house. So the original plan was:

• Dave and Amber (the doggy) take the ferry on Saturday Dec. 22 nd
• We celebrate Christmas and visit Nico
• Dave will fly to England on Dec 26, since he has to work
• He takes a rental car. His car and the doggy stay at my house
• He will fly back to Germany on Dec. 30 th
• We need to go to the vet for Amber's health certificate (we need it every time she gets back to England and it must be no older than 48 hours)
• Dave and Amber take the ferry on New Years Day in the morning

Sounds complicated and expensive, right? But then Silke called me and said that their plans changed this year. They will celebrate the birthday on the 23rd and go to her sister's house on Christmas. And she asked whether I am fine with it. And yes, I am. Here comes the easier plan for our Christmas now:

• I fly to England on Dec. 24 th
• I fly home on Jan. 2 nd

Sound much less complicated, right? So we decided to go for this second variant.

I also talked to Corinne from Switzerland. She will be in Alaska in March, too and will be able to join the wedding. And the next good news is that she will come and visit us in England for three days end of December. I am very much looking forward to it!

Seems things are going well here. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas time.